stone veneer on center island

[Ross Hebeisen]

could anyone help me with how to go about putting a stone veneer on a center island in kitchen? the stone is a rust colored slate type and about 1.5" thick. thanks in advance. ross

[Jim Behning]

[Tim W]

An inch and a half thick is more of a slab than a veneer. You just put it on. You can put a couple of blobs of adhesive or sealant underneath if you are worried about it moving. Was that the question?

Tim w

[JB]

Is this veneer going on the sides of the island (vertically)? If so, is the slate random shapes or squares/rectangles? Assuming random shapes, you'll be doing a lot of trimming with a brick hammer to get the pieces to fit with uniform 1/2 to 3/4 inch joints. It's messy, and you need eye protection. Slate tends to split into layers when you trim it, and to produce jagged edges. Use a construction adhesive and small finishing nails to hold each piece in place until the glue sets. Later remove all the nails with pliers. You can use a grouting bag (similar to what they use to decorate cakes, but more heavy duty) to fill in the joints with mortar. Then, after the mortar has set up slightly (it won't take long if the wood backing is absorbing the water out of the mix) compress and smooth the mortar in the joints with a joint slicker (Google that), and use a medium soft brush to do the final smoothing. Take care to avoid excess mortar on the face of the stone - it's not like grouting ceramic tile. Best to avoid having to use any cleaning solution. HTH

[Ross Hebeisen]

Thanks for that info JB yes going up 3 sides with random sizes. planned to lay on the floor first to get the fit and then move to place. your info was what i kinda assumed but needed a vote of confidense although using the nails to hold in place was an added idea. ross

this group has sure gone down hill with OT bickering

[RicodJour]

You didn't say what your floor construction is, but you will be adding a lot of weight to that island. With cabinet and contents, stone, people gathered around the island, the load could easily be a couple of tons. Island's are usually near the middle of the room. Adding a lot of weight to the middle of a floor joist is the worst place to put it. You could _easily_ exceed the design strength of the floor/ joists. It's extremely unlikely that the floor would break, but you might get excessive deflection and increased bouncing of the floor. These are bad things. If you're on a slab don't worry about it.

Frequently a stone countertop is made from 3/4" stone with epoxy- bonded stone added to the underside of the nose so that it looks like a thicker top without the added weight and expense. Most stone can be simply siliconed to the countertop plywood substrate. If you were thinking of going with the heavier stone so you can have a larger overhang - something that you could pull stools up to to eat - don't. The stone does not have that kind of strength. You would need additional support, preferably steel or knee brackets, to keep the stone from cracking.

of the island. Again, serious weight. It's rarely a good idea to attach stone or tile to wood. I'm not sure how your island is constructed (store-bought or are you making it?), but using something like 1/4" Hardibacker board attached to the cabinet sides with thinset would provide the best substrate for thinsetting the stone to the side.

R

[Ross Hebeisen]

the island was built by a custom shop. island is over a lower bearing wall o weight should not be a problem. i did custom log spindles, rails, newel posts etc for these folks and they asked about doing the stone work for them but they have now found someone with experiance, which is good cause i'm getting a little to old to be crawling around on my knee's and my back is shot from 37 years of cutting timber. i just like to putz around with wood projects so i can get my sawdust fix. ross wood junky